Samuel W. Mitcham, Jr. is an internationally recognized authority on Nazi Germany and the Second World War. He is the author of twenty books, including Crumbling Empire (Praeger, 2001), Retreat from the Reich (Praeger, 2000), and The Desert Fox in Normandy (Praeger, 1997). A former Army helicopter pilot and company commander, he is a graduate of the U. S. Army's Command and General Staff College.